Membership Overview
The Dry Stone Walling Association of Canada is growing, and we want you to come along!
We offer memberships for one, two, or three-year periods. Each member must certify that they agree to abide by the Association’s Standards of Practice. We offer memberships for novice to advanced wallers, as well as dry stone enthusiasts who want to be involved in the Association’s development and support our mission.
All General Members receive the following core benefits:
Free Basic Workshops: Members who have completed at least one of our standard paid courses are welcome to participate in any future basic walling workshops for free. (Note: The number of volunteer spots varies depending on the workshop build).
Bursary Eligibility: Members are exclusively eligible to apply for our specialized funding programs, including the Joseph Boterman Bursary and the Ireland-Canada Waldemar Wower Learning Exchange Bursary.
Association Voting Rights: Have your say in our development with full voting rights at our Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Board Eligibility: Run for an elected position on our Board of Directors to help guide our strategic direction.
General Members with Advanced Skills also receive:
Access to dedicated Advanced Skills Sessions.
Hands-on mentoring and development opportunities alongside expert wallers at designated major legacy build projects.
Volunteering is a great way to log extra walling time, practice your skills, and connect with the community. You do not need to be a general member to sign up for and attend your very first workshop, but once you understand the basics, we highly welcome your help on site!
Workshop Volunteers: After taking a workshop and understanding the basics of walling and the safe use of materials on site, general members can join and volunteer to help out with workshops for free. For more details on current spots, contact us at drystonecanada@yahoo.ca.
On-Site Coordinators: General members with previous workshop and organizational experience can volunteer to assist our professional instructors by stepping into the role of an On-Site Coordinator to help manage materials, site flow, and logistics. This role helps streamline our educational builds.
Our organization, operations, and festivals require a wide variety of non-stone skills. If you want to support our mission but prefer not to swing a hammer, you can join an active committee or help out with our general community operations.
If you are interested in joining a committee or getting involved in an operational project to help the association, please connect with us directly via our Committees Contact Form or email thedrystonecanada@gmail.com.
Active Operational Committees:
Membership & Outreach
Workshop Coordination
Advanced Skills & Certification
Festival Planning
The Young Wallers Initiative
Ireland-Canada Bursary Selection
Current Calls for Operational Volunteers:
Digital Documentation Project: We need help organizing our photos and digital records covering a decade of builds, workshops, events, and festivals as part of our ongoing archive tracking.
Photography: If you have a knack for photography and live near one of our major legacy build sites, help us document active builds for our promotional media packages and web albums.
Member Spotlights: If you have writing skills and a knack for interviewing, help us draft profiles, interviews, and stories for our ongoing Member Spotlight series.
Data Management: Help us support, update, and manage our backend membership management systems and communication programs.
All General Members
- Are added to our mailing list and receive newsletter updates on workshops, festival, and events, as well as stone network news and updates to the website.
- Are invited to volunteer at the members’ build at our annual Dry Stone Festival.
- Who have completed at least one of our workshops are welcome to participate in any of our basic walling workshops (no fee )
- Are eligible for the Joseph Boterman Bursary and the Ireland-Canada Exchange Bursary.
General Members with Advanced Skills
- General members who demonstrate Advanced-level skills in their existing body of work are eligible for learning programs organised by the advanced skills committee including:
- Advanced Skills Sessions
- Mentoring and Development at designated major build projects
- Read more about Advanced Skills here.
Workshop Events
- After taking a workshop and understanding the basics of walling and use of materials on site, General members can join and volunteer to help with workshops for free.
- The number of volunteer spots will vary depending on the workshop build. Contact drystonecanada@yahoo.ca for more information.
- You DO NOT need to be a general member to sign up for and attend a workshop.
- General members with workshop and coordination experience can volunteer to assist Instructors as an On-Site Coordinator. This is a new role we are piloting in 2022. Read more here.
Committees and Board of Directors
- General members are invited to join Committees to help build the Association and support our mandate and strategic direction. Read more here.
- Current committees include:
- Membership
- Workshops
- Advanced Skills
- Young Wallers
- Festival
- Ireland-Canada Bursary
- General members are eligible to join the Board of Directors.
General Volunteering
- General members are always welcome to volunteer with our festivals and events. These events and our operations require non-stone skills and experience including promotions, fundraising, and helping host international guests during our festivals. We welcome your involvement.
- Here are some current calls for volunteers:
- Digital documentation for our 10-year anniversary:
- Dry Stone Canada needs help organizing our photos and digital record of the last decade of builds, workshops, events, and fun times. If you have skills in digital documentation or are a whiz at organizing files in the cloud, send us and email
- Dry Stone Canada is launching a digital documentation project to record our major build sites during our 10th anniversary year. If you have a knack for photography and are near one of these sites, take some photos and we will add them to our albums.
- Dry Stone Canada is launching a series of member spotlights in 2022. If you have writing skills and a knack for interviewing, please be in touch.
- Dry Stone Canada is implementing a new membership management system and we need a Registrar to help manage this program. If you have skills managing data and communications, please be in touch.
- Digital documentation for our 10-year anniversary:
General Member
1 Year-
Be invited to volunteer
-
Eligible for bursaries
-
Vote at the AGM
-
Be a Board Member
General Member
2 Year-
Be invited to volunteer
-
Eligible for bursaries
-
Vote at the AGM
-
Be a Board Member
-
$10 discount
General Member
3 Year-
Be invited to volunteer
-
Eligible for bursaries
-
Vote at the AGM
-
Be a Board Member
-
$20 discount
Corporate Member
1 Year-
Be invited to volunteer
-
Eligible for bursaries
-
Vote at the AGM
-
Be a Board Member
Corporate Member
2 Year-
Be invited to volunteer
-
Eligible for bursaries
-
Vote at the AGM
-
Be a Board Member
-
$10 discount
Corporate Member
3 Year-
Be invited to volunteer
-
Eligible for bursaries
-
Vote at the AGM
-
Be a Board Member
-
$20 discount